0:00:21 > 0:00:22Welcome to Reporters.
0:00:22 > 0:00:23I'm James Menendez.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26From here in the World Newsroom, we send out correspondants to bring
0:00:26 > 0:00:28you the best stories from across the globe.
0:00:28 > 0:00:29In this week's programme...
0:00:29 > 0:00:31The culture clash in the Amazon.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33We report on Brazil's plans to build huge hydroelectric dams,
0:00:33 > 0:00:36which could change the world's biggest rainforest for ever.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40The impact of so many of these structures on the world's
0:00:40 > 0:00:42greatest river system, its environment and its
0:00:42 > 0:00:48people will be immense.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51A visit to China's most polluted city.
0:00:51 > 0:00:52We find the worst winter smog in recent years
0:00:53 > 0:00:54is poisoning its people.
0:00:54 > 0:00:55It's like living under a cloud.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59The smog is harming my childrens' health.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01And the sounds of Stonehenge.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04David Sillitoe investigates how new technology is revealing more
0:01:04 > 0:01:08of the ancient stones' secrets.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11What this new VR technology is offering is a chance to return
0:01:11 > 0:01:16back and see what this place used to look like in the past.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41To Brazil's Amazon rainforest now, where a battle is under way
0:01:41 > 0:01:43between its indigenous people and big business.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45The Brazilian government is defending plans to build dozens
0:01:45 > 0:01:47of huge hydroelectric dams, which they say are vital to meet
0:01:47 > 0:01:48the country's energy needs.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51But environmentalists say the plans are a disaster for the Amazon
0:01:51 > 0:01:53and will result in more deforestation and global warming.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56Wyre Davies has been to Belo Monte, the site of the first
0:01:56 > 0:01:58of the new so-called mega-dams to assess their impact.
0:01:58 > 0:02:03VOICEOVER: From the heart of the planet's greatest rainforest,
0:02:03 > 0:02:05emerges one of the world's biggest civil engineering projects.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07A monolithic monument to progress.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10The Belo Monte dam is Brazil's answer to its growing energy needs.
0:02:10 > 0:02:11Mired in controversy and allegations of corruption,
0:02:11 > 0:02:14the $18 billion dam partially blocks the Xingu, a major Amazon tributary
0:02:14 > 0:02:20and has flooded thousands of acres of rainforest.
0:02:20 > 0:02:21There's a human cost too.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23The local fishing has been decimated and thousands of riverside
0:02:23 > 0:02:25dwellers or riberenos, have lost their land
0:02:25 > 0:02:27and their livelihoods, forced into a completely
0:02:27 > 0:02:37alien, urban environment.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41We get angry, says this man, showing us his now
0:02:42 > 0:02:43worthless fishing licence.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46We see these corporations making millions from what used to be ours,
0:02:46 > 0:02:48he says, and we can't even use the river any more.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Building the dam brought hundreds of jobs to the riverside town
0:02:51 > 0:02:53of Altamira, but it also led to increasing deforestation
0:02:53 > 0:02:55and the permanent loss of many low-lying islands.
0:02:55 > 0:02:56Supporters of hydropower admit mistakes were made.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59But they say the rivers and their energy are there to be
0:02:59 > 0:03:09harnessed for the greater good of Brazil.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12I would definitely defend the presence of Hydro S1
0:03:12 > 0:03:19key technology in our portfolio of technologies.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21In the developed part of the world,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24almost 70% of the hydro potential has already been explored.
0:03:24 > 0:03:32In Brazil, almost 70% of our hydro potential has not been explored yet.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35Brazil says it wants to build at least 50 hydroelectric
0:03:35 > 0:03:37dams across the Amazon.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39The government is saying it is clean, sustainable energy.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42But the impact of so many of these structures on the world's
0:03:42 > 0:03:44greatest river system, its environment and its
0:03:44 > 0:03:54people, will be immense.
0:03:54 > 0:03:55Next in line for development, the Tapajos.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58Described as the most beautiful river in the Amazon region and home
0:03:58 > 0:04:08to the Munduruku indigenous people.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16The plan to build several dams along its length
0:04:16 > 0:04:19would transform this wide, shallow river into a
0:04:19 > 0:04:20navigable water highway.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22But it would flood forests and islands used
0:04:22 > 0:04:25by the Munduruku for centuries.
0:04:25 > 0:04:30Tribal chiefs say they will resist any attempts to build
0:04:30 > 0:04:40dams on the river.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51Clean energy and the promise of jobs versus the rights
0:04:51 > 0:04:52of indigenous tribes.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55And whether to exploit or to protect this fragile ecosystem.
0:04:55 > 0:05:00Wyre Davies, BBC News, in the Amazon.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07China is in the midst of its worst winter smog in recent years.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10More than half of all of its cities are experiencing high
0:05:10 > 0:05:11levels of air pollution.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14Visibility in Beijing was reduced to less than 200 metres this week,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17increasing use of coal and current weather conditions have left a cloud
0:05:17 > 0:05:19of pollution over 3000 kilometres long across northern
0:05:19 > 0:05:19and central regions.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22John Sudworth has travelled to the worst polluted city in China
0:05:22 > 0:05:23and sent us this report.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25VOICEOVER: Somewhere, underneath this murky gloom is a city
0:05:26 > 0:05:27of 10 million people.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29And, for the unfortunate residents of this city, this is normal.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32For the past 30 days, the average air quality in this city
0:05:32 > 0:05:34has measured as hazardous on the official scale.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37You can smell, even taste the coal dust in the air, the grim,
0:05:37 > 0:05:39tangible reality of this country's model of economic growth.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42And people have no choice but to live, eat and sleep in this
0:05:42 > 0:05:52toxic smog, 24 hours a day.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01It's like living under a cloud, this noodle seller tells me.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03The smog is harming my children's health.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06Of course I want to leave, this man says, but I can't
0:06:06 > 0:06:08afford to, and anyway, the whole country is polluted.
0:06:08 > 0:06:18It's not much of an exaggeration.
0:06:20 > 0:06:25200 miles away, the pollution literally rolled into
0:06:25 > 0:06:29Beijing earlier this week.
0:06:29 > 0:06:35And stayed.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39A toxic mix of coal dust from power stations and car exhaust,
0:06:39 > 0:06:43the smog now regularly blankets a huge swathe of northern China.
0:06:43 > 0:06:52And it's believed to cause more than a million
0:06:52 > 0:06:53premature deaths a year.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56TRANSLATION: As a lung cancer doctor, I have seen an increase
0:06:56 > 0:06:58in patients in recent years, especially from heavily
0:06:58 > 0:06:59polluted areas.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01And when the smog gets worse, we see more kids with asthma.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03Public concern has forced the Chinese government
0:07:03 > 0:07:05to begin investing heavily in renewable energy.
0:07:05 > 0:07:11Those working in the sector believe China can clean up its air,
0:07:11 > 0:07:15just as wealthier, more developed economies once had to.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18I am pretty positive for China's future.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22Actually, they don't need that much time for the science research.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24They don't need that much time to develop relevant technologies.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28So I think a lot of things are more ripe for us
0:07:28 > 0:07:34to make faster solutions.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36Those solutions can't come fast enough for this city.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39Fossil fuels may have lifted China's economy to ever greater heights,
0:07:39 > 0:07:44but they are poisoning its people.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48John Sudworth, BBC News, China.
0:08:09 > 0:08:10STUDIO: Finally, there are many questions surrounding
0:08:10 > 0:08:11the ancient stones
0:08:11 > 0:08:12circle of Stonehenge.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15But might sound help in the search for answers?
0:08:15 > 0:08:17New technology is helping to recreate some of the strange
0:08:17 > 0:08:19acoustics of the mystical English site from thousands of years ago.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22Much of the stone circle has been lost over the years,
0:08:22 > 0:08:25but as David Sillitoe reports, the technology can even help us
0:08:25 > 0:08:26experience what the original prehistoric site might
0:08:27 > 0:08:27have looked like.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29EERIE SOUNDS.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31People have been coming here for at least 4000, 5000 years.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33So we are walking in the feet of history.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36When the wind blows, some people say they hear a strange hum.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38Thomas Hardy wrote about it in Tess of the d'Urbevilles.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41And Dr Rupert Till is convinced the sound of Stonehenge
0:08:41 > 0:08:42is part of its magic.
0:08:42 > 0:08:43WIND BLOWS EERILY.
0:08:43 > 0:08:50You here between each beat a little echo as the sound leaves you,
0:08:50 > 0:08:58hits the stone and comes back to you here.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00-- You hear between each beat a little echo
0:09:00 > 0:09:01as the sound leaves you,
0:09:01 > 0:09:03hits the stone and comes back to you here.
0:09:03 > 0:09:09Bang. BANGING.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12The problem, this is just a fragment of the sound people would have
0:09:12 > 0:09:19heard 4000 years ago.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21What this new VR technology is offering is a possibility,
0:09:21 > 0:09:24a chance to return back and see and also hear what this place used
0:09:24 > 0:09:26to look like in the past.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28We've kind of reconstructed it by rebuilding Stonehenge digitally
0:09:28 > 0:09:30and then using architectural software to reconstruct
0:09:30 > 0:09:32the acoustics of the space, as it would have been
0:09:32 > 0:09:41when all the stones were here.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45So how different is the old sound to the sound we have today?
0:09:45 > 0:09:48If I tap this drum now, you hear a little bit of an echo.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51When all the stones are put in place, a much more
0:09:51 > 0:09:52powerful sense of enclosure, a slight reverberation,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55more echo and it changes more as you walk around.
0:09:55 > 0:10:03BANGING.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06And the reason he is convinced ancient people were interested
0:10:06 > 0:10:08in sound is because of his work in caves in Spain.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10Hundreds of metres underground, they found ancient instruments
0:10:10 > 0:10:12and human marks on certain stalactites...
0:10:12 > 0:10:19Stalactites that are musical.
0:10:21 > 0:10:2419, 20, 21,
0:10:24 > 0:10:3122, 23, 24, 25.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33So today, it's just ruin beside a busy road.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35This, a chance to say goodbye to the 21st-century and experience
0:10:35 > 0:10:45the lost sound of Stonehenge.
0:10:47 > 0:10:52David Sillitoe, BBC News.
0:10:52 > 0:10:53STUDIO: Intriguing stuff.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55That's all from Reporters for this week.
0:10:55 > 0:11:05From me, James Menendez, goodbye for now.